Three Ways to Improve Your Business Strategy

As everyone knows, we live in a marketplace that is flooded with brand messaging from individuals, business marketers, consumer brands and social organizations. With all of this information being available, prospects have become accustomed to finding the specific information they want—and not having to wait for it.

The way this impacts an organization’s business strategy today is that sales and marketing representatives no longer can rely upon traditional “many calls equals many sales” formulas. In fact, these practices can be counter-productive in establishing meaningful, long-term client relationships.

So what can you do to affect a positive strategy and compete effectively in the marketplace?

Based upon MarketCues’ research among its clients over the past three years, the data shows sales marketing representatives will be far more effective by participating in an “inbound business strategy.” Not only will this create a much higher interest among prospects, it will place the correct emphasis on delivering hard-core benefits to clients vs. trying to being the silver bullet sales person. To get started, here are three ways to implement this strategy:

1) Focus your content.

The new paradigm demands you have a penetrating focus on what your company offers. Gone are the days that a company offers 1,000 products in 50 different markets. This conglomerate strategy has been overtaken by singularly focused organizations, such as Apple with its four basic products—iPhone, iPod, iPad and computers. That’s it and the company is now one of the largest in the world. This business strategy of fewer is better needs to be reflected in your content as well, so prospects can quickly find the information they want.

2) Focus your corporate story.

Usually the founder of a company tells the most interesting story about his or her company. This works well as long as the company remains in a smaller stage of growth and relies upon its founder for driving sales and marketing representative.

Tom Marin is the managing partner of MarketCues.com and provides corporate and brand strategy to organizations of all sizes. He has an extensive background in the graphic arts, printing, publishing and media industries. Marin is an accredited member of the national and international chapters of the Business Marketing Assn., is a (CBC) certified business communicator and a past marketing chair of the Chicago chapter.